What looked like one of the big box office showdowns of the summer turned out to not be battle at all. Not only did 'Fast and Furious 6' take the number one spot at the box office, it did it while shattering records, leaving 'The Hangover Part 3' coughing on its exhaust.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Fast and Furious 6

$98,528,000

$26,935

$98,528,000

2

The Hangover Part III

$42,415,000

$11,931

$54,204,000

3

Star Trek Into Darkness

$38,415,000 (-45.8)

$9,726

$146,827,000

4

Epic

$34,200,000

$8,810

$34,200,000

5

Iron Man 3

$19,424,000 (-45.7)

$5,673

$367,506,000

6

The Great Gatsby

$13,705,000 (-42.8)

$4,435

$114,432,000

7

Mud

$1,980,000 (-11.4)

$2,781

$14,587,000

8

42

$1,245,000 (-55.7)

$1,361

$91,049,000

9

The Croods

$1,215,000 (-59.8)

$1,205

$179,038,000

10

Oblivion

$815,000 (-55.1)

$1,425

$87,280,000

First things first: the combined might of this weekend's releases led to this being the highest grossing Memorial Day weekend of all time, which is certainly no easy feat. Hey! Everyone's a winner!

But the real winner is 'Fast and Furious 6,' which had the biggest opening of any movie in the franchise so far. Even more importantly, it had the biggest opening of all time for a Universal movie. If there was any lingering doubt that they were going to make twenty of these things, go ahead and toss that out the window. This series is officially Universal's cash cow. With $98 million in the bank after three days, 'Fast and Furious 6' is already eyeing the $209 million made by 'Fast Five.' Expect it to outgross its predecessor sooner rather than later. For a franchise that seemed on the rocks around its third entry (which only grossed $62 million total), this is absolutely incredible.

Significantly less incredible is the $42 million opening of 'The Hangover Part 3.' Sure, those would usually be great numbers for a comedy...but this is a comedy that somehow cost over $100 million. And then there's the fact that the first 'Hangover' film opened to $44 million and the second to $85 million, making $277 million and $254 million respectively. Considering diminishing returns, it's hard to imagine this one even coming close to totals of the first two. It'll probably do okay in the long run and it will certainly make back its cost, but it's a good thing that Warner Bros. had already decided not to make any more.

In third place, 'Star Trek Into Darkness' faired decently in its second week, taking an expected drop and taking in $38 million. With a current gross of $146 million, it's looking like it won't have too much trouble crossing the $200 million mark, but it'll be an uphill battle if it wants to top 2009's 'Star Trek.' On paper, this is bad but not disastrous. However, Paramount was hoping the first film would be the 'Batman Begins' to the sequel's 'The Dark Knight' and, well, that certainly wasn't the case. 'Star Trek 3' will probably happen, but it'll happen on the cheap.

Meanwhile, 'Epic' finally gave families something to see that doesn't star cavemen and those grateful parents and their easily entertained spawn gave it a $34 million opening. That's not super-high for a widely released animated film, but 'Epic' doesn't have the budget of a Pixar or DreamWorks release, so it should be fine in the long run...if audiences like it.

Right below that, we come to 'Iron Man 3' and 'The Great Gatsby,' both of which are fairing quite well several weeks into their release. 'Iron Man 3' has reached the point where it's simply coasting to $400 million (everything on top of that is gravy) and 'The Great Gatsby' is still on the long journey to $150 million (not impossible, but it'll take a little effort). In any case, both are big winners in their own little ways.

Finally, 'Mud' continued to be the little movie that could, hanging out in the middle of the top ten, not making much but not losing business. Right now, it's looking like the closest thing 2013 has to a 'Moonrise Kingdom.'